About Steven Ongena
Steven Ongena is a partner and lawyer at AKD, specialising in real estate. He advises on diverse real estate transactions, covering the full spectrum of legal instruments, such as transfers in full ownership, transfers of rights in rem and leases. The Legal 500 has recommended Steven for real estate over the past ten years.
Steven’s real estate practice focuses on long-term projects such as the relocation of headquarters or production facilities. Often these projects will also include a construction component. Steven also advises retail clients throughout the retail life cycle, namely developing, managing and restructuring a network.
For more than 25 years, Steven has been providing clients with well thought-out advice and representation, both at the negotiation table and in court. His clients range from large corporations to governments at home and abroad. Steven aims at explaining the practical implications of the law, as well as the prevailing market standards and expectations.
Steven has helped to develop the firm’s current retail practice, which includes some of the world’s most prestigious brands and covers a broad range of sectors such as the clothing, cosmetics, food & beverages and the car industry. Steven advises both on developments via third parties (agents, franchisees and distributors) and on developments via internally managed sales outlets. For three years in a row, the Legal 500 has described Steven’s retail practice as class leading for Belgium.
Steven equally has a litigation practice which focuses on contractual disputes, with an emphasis on disputes resulting from the termination of distribution agreements. Steven also regularly represents clients in lease renewals. In this type of cases, landlords and tenants must submit their dispute to court if they disagree on the terms of renewal. Steven’s cases usually include a cross-border element.